There is a first time to everything...

They say there is always a first time to everything… for me, the past three weeks were full of first times.

First of all, I traveled alone for the first time of my life to a country that I did not know much about: Costa Rica, which is well known for its biodiversity and coffee. I arrived on December 24th, Christmas Eve, for my internship at In the Wind Hotel & Guesthouse. When I got here, one of the things that shocked me the most was the amount of motorcycles that we can see in the streets and the fact that at night they are just so noisy. We should not forget that to cross the street can take several minutes…I was scared at first to cross the street alone because all the vehicles come back and forth from different ways.

Otherwise, Costa Rica is a lovely country. We can easily travel from San José to other cities by bus. Some trips may be longer like going to Monteverde, which takes at least 5 hours, but you can also take a one-day trip to Jacó Beach which is only 2 hours away from San José. The first days, I stayed in San Pedro at In the Wind Hostel & Guesthouse, where I’m doing my internship. Slowly, I went out to visit downtown and to visit some museums like the Museum of Jade that has 5 floors and presents the way the first civilization created figures with jade, and the National Museum that let you explore Costa Rica from the beginning of civilization ‘till today, the modern era, with a small butterflies’ botanical garden. After that, I visited some parks (we can find a lot of urban parks here) and some churches that are so different from the Canadian’s ones.

After visiting the city, I had to come back to the hostel and start my internship. It is the first time that I work in the hospitality industry; I didn’t know what to expect nor if I would like it or not. It was all new; people from different parts of the world with different stories and different accents, the tasks we have to do, living in the same place where I work and trying to get out of my comfort zone to experiment new things... all at the same time. Today, after two weeks working at In the Wind Hostel & Guesthouse, I have become someone else and I have lived beautiful moments with the guests that I would not have experienced nowhere else. The personalized and friendly service provided here allows me to know a little more about the guests. Waking up in the morning even if I’m tired and preparing breakfast for the guests and seeing their smile makes me happy. I’m glad to share those moments with them as they’re part of my internship too. Of course, not all the tasks are easy. I’m, for the first time, responsible of an organization’s social medias and must find new ideas with different captions that will be interesting every day. Managing the hostel’s Facebook page and Instagram account is a great challenge.

After all... I’m here to experience and learn new things and discover a new culture with a different way of living. I hope to have many more first times. Pura Vida!